WASHINGTON – Today, to mark the 25th Anniversary of America Recycles Day, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is celebrating progress the agency has made on recycling and educating the public on the importance of recycling, one year after publishing its National Recycling Strategy. The strategy is the first in a series devoted to building an economy that keeps materials, products, and services in circulation for as long as possible, in what is known as a circular economy. As part of these efforts, EPA is launching a Model Recycling Program Toolkit, which is a new searchable web application that shares EPA tools and resources on recycling, composting, reuse, and other materials management activities. With this new toolkit, the public, including potential grant applicants, can find resources such as case studies on recycling programs and webinars on driving behavior change. EPA is encouraging everyone and every organization to use the toolkit to boost their recycling efforts on America Recycles Day and every day.
“This year, America Recycles Day falls on the one-year anniversary of the historic passage of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, a monumental investment in the health, equity, and resilience of American communities,” said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan. “Recycling is important because about half of all greenhouse gas emissions are from the creation and production of materials. And, while we have made great strides over the years, as a nation, we can and will do so much more to improve the state of recycling and protect our planet.”
Recycling reduces greenhouse gas emissions by reducing energy consumption. And using recycled materials to make new products reduces the need for unused raw materials, avoiding emissions from mining, and allowing resources to be used more efficiently while reducing the impact on the climate.
Thanks to President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, EPA has been provided $375 million over five years to develop several new initiatives, including a Solid Waste Infrastructure for Recycling grant program, a Recycling Education and Outreach grant program, the Model Recycling Program Toolkit announced today, and funding to develop best practices for battery collection, recycling, and labeling guidelines. This is the largest EPA investment in recycling in 30 years.
The Solid Waste Infrastructure for Recycling Grant program
The Solid Waste Infrastructure for Recycling Grant program will include three types of funding opportunities. The first two types of grant funding will provide funding to states, territories, and the District of Columbia to improve solid waste management planning, data collection, and program implementation, as well as funding to counties, cities, towns, parishes, and similar units of government for projects that improve post-consumer materials management and infrastructure. The third type of grant funding for federally recognized Tribes, including Alaskan Native Villages, and intertribal consortia, will be announced later this year.
The Recycling Education and Outreach Grant program
The Recycling Education and Outreach Grant program will fund projects to improve consumer education and outreach on waste prevention, reuse, recycling, and composting. These education and outreach grants to states, Tribes, territories, local governments, and other organizations aim to reduce waste generation, decrease contamination in the recycling stream, and increase recycling rates across the country in a manner that is equitable for all.
Communities—oftentimes those with environmental justice concerns—carry the environmental and human health burdens of waste. As part of President Biden’s Justice40 Initiative, at least 40 percent of the funding allocated in EPA’s Solid Waste Infrastructure for Recycling grants and the Recycling Education and Outreach grants will serve underserved and overburdened communities. The grants align with the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to elevate environmental justice and climate action to a focus of the federal government’s work.
The agency will continue to accelerate this progress through the development of the infrastructure and education grants, best practices and guidelines for batteries, the model recycling program toolkit, and strategies to reduce waste from food, plastics, and electronics.
So, on America Recycles Day, EPA calls on organizations to help create a stronger, more resilient, and cost-effective recycling system. Lead the way through innovation. Design materials with less waste in the first place. And, create markets for recycled materials.
EPA encourages individuals to; learn their local recycling rules and recycle right; create less waste in the first place by only purchasing what is necessary; remember those reusable bags, utensils, and containers; eat those leftovers or freeze them and eat them later; repair products; use sharing platforms for transportation, lodging, tools, clothing, and services; and look for products with less packaging and more recycled content.
Visit EPA’s website to learn more ways to reduce, reuse, and recycle.
About the National Recycling Strategy
Last November, EPA released the 2021 National Recycling Strategy to tackle major recycling challenges facing the nation and to create a stronger, more resilient, and cost-effective municipal solid waste recycling system. The 2021 strategy was also the first time EPA’s recycling strategy addressed the climate impacts of producing, using, and disposing of materials and focus on the human health and environmental impacts of waste and waste-related facilities in overburdened communities.
Eighteen actions identified in the strategy are underway. This includes 13 EPA-led actions, as well as actions led by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the Department of Energy. Actions include creating a national map of existing recycling infrastructure, conducting a financial needs assessment related to recycling infrastructure in the United States, researching domestic and international circular economy policies, providing grants to support community recycling programs, and developing a recycling measurement guide for state, local, and tribal governments.
Within the past 12 months, 2,241 entities have signed up to stay informed about the National Recycling Strategy activities and accomplishments. Read the full September progress report.